Inside the New York Yankees clubhouse with MLB.com beat writer Bryan Hoch.

4/27 – Yankees at Tigers

How do you get to Comerica Park? If this were a bad joke, the answer would be ‘practice.’ But in my case, it involved a 3:45 a.m. wakeup call at the Copley Marriott, a shut-eye cab ride to Logan Airport, a flight with an interrupted stopover in Newark, N.J., and finally a knuckleball landing in the outskirts of Detroit Rock City.

Was it all bad? No. My hotel room has a view of the stadium from 66 stories above downtown Detroit and I must say, it’s pretty cool to see the office from that height.

And they say this job isn’t glamorous! Well, we all made it here as the Yankees and Tigers are underway at Comerica — which, as Tyler Kepner eloquently puts in on his blog, is one of the more underrated stadiums in the league. I don’t know exactly what do do in Detroit when I’m not at Comerica, but they don’t pay me for that anyway.

Brief notes on the lineups — Johnny Damon is in there for the Yankees and says he’s not 100 percent with his left shoulder, but it’s playable. They’re not sending him for tests and Damon says that’s fine, because he doesn’t really want to know what’s wrong anyway. Angel Berroa gets a day off after his two-error showing on Sunday at Fenway, and Joe Girardi is playing the hot hand in Melky Cabrera over Brett Gardner.

72 Comments

I was all for Girardi as coach as well. He can go to hell now. Any one of us can do an equivalent if not better job. He needs to change the lineup for starters.
1 Damon LF
2 Jeter SS
3 Tex 1B
4 Cano 2B
5 Posada C
6 Matsui DH
7 Swisher RF
8 Cabrera/Gardner CF
9 Me 3B

I guess the word hasn’t gotten out yet, There is a conspiracy going on in the AL, Every opposing pitcher will be able to pitch as if he were a Cy Young winner. They are testing our mettle to see how tough we are, Thus far we have been proven a soft touch. It doesn’t matter who goes to the mound they will make the Yankees look anemic……………
.. All I see on this site is negativity. At the onset of the season there we all had great expectations, They are still there. We all share the same feelings and we’re disappointed in the poor start. As I have said before.. If you are really a Yankee fan, then you have to stand by your team. This team CAN and WILL be a winner. (HUGHES WILL WIN TONIGHT) OK?
Joe, needs to pull these guys together, he needs to get them fired up, If he can’t do that then get rid of him.. This team has all the tools necessary to win, if they are used correctly they will respond.. Let’s not give up so early in the season.. WE CAN WIN!!
“GO YANKEES!!”

Send out an APB for Mel Stottlemyre. Best pitching coach the Yankees ever had. Further, when he was young in 1964, he threw the exact same pitches as Wang and could fix him. Highest ERA in the majors is disgusting. Pitching is the key and that comes through development not big money. Sabathia will be fine and so will Burnett. I’m very glad we signed Andy P. ——-Hughes or Kennedy need to be fifth starter, send Joba back to pen—–maybe he’ll find his 95 Plus heater, and crazy as it sounds——-K. Igawa would be a better left hand specialist than Marte (he has a much better curve and that is what is needed against lefties).

Sure the blame goes to the top of the heap. Cashman made some major mistakes last season the first of which was hiring Girardi! Next no disrespect to CC but Santana is still probably the better and more consistant pitcher, however it only cost money (no players) for CC, so there is an argument as to why the Santana trade never materialized. Cashman got the wrong outfielder in the Nady deal, he isn’t even close to being the ballplayer that Jason Bay is. It would be intresting to know how much more it would of taken to get Bay. Nady had never been anywhere near the year he was having with Pittsburg prior to the trade and his numbers after the trade dropped off when they should of gotten better considering the 2 batting lineups. That is all in the past and it’s time to move forward. All players have ups and downs during the course of a season and this Yankee squad is no different. I am sure guys like Tex and CC will get back in the groove and be the players they were expected to be given the right circumstances. I still have to say that Girardi is the mistake that needs to be rectified and soon! He simply has no feel for the game given the players he has to work with. When he makes strategical mistakes during the course of a game like he did sooooo many times last year and already this year players lose confidence in their manager and this results in uninspired efforts and poor play regardless the amount of money a player is making. Joe Torre , when the Yanks were winning, had the knack of knowing when to pull a pitcher and when to let him keep going in a different game, Joe Girardi simply does the wrong thing most of the time which results in things like 9 runs or worse in an inning. You would of thought Girardi would of learnt from last years mistakes that there are times when you should sacrifice (instead of hitting into rally killing double plays), but still refuses to play smart. But it seems SMART is not in the present Yankee vocabulary, Girardi is still here even after last year and so far this year.

Please cease with the repeated Mark Texeira tirades. For one the Red Sox thought they could get Tex for $170m, that hardly makes the Yanks $180m a king’s ransom. Secondly, in the 4 ALDS games for the Angels, sure Tex collected just one RBI, but he did hit .467 with a .550 OBP compare that to Youk .220, .300, Lowell was hitless then went down injured and Drew .286, .286. Only Bay had comparable stats. You can’t judge Tex in the postseason on 4 bleedin’ games! As for Juan Miranda, he won’t be anything more than a bench player in the bigs.

Please cease with the repeated Mark Texeira tirades. For one the Red Sox thought they could get Tex for $170m, that hardly makes the Yanks $180m a king’s ransom. Secondly, in the 4 ALDS games for the Angels, sure Tex collected just one RBI, but he did hit .467 with a .550 OBP compare that to Youk .220, .300, Lowell was hitless then went down injured and Drew .286, .286. Only Bay had comparable stats. You can’t judge Tex in the postseason on 4 bleedin’ games! As for Juan Miranda, he won’t be anything more than a bench player in the bigs.

CR,
Typical Yankees bad luck, Brian Taylor was a legitimate number one pick overall, but he gets into a bar fight and injures his shoulder! At least that’s the way I remember it!
If you have a link to an article please post it!!!

Earlier someone posted that Joe Torre had the Dodgers hitting all cylinders and in first place…The Dodgers are not in first place in their division because of Joe Torre…The Dodgers are in first place because their owner and GM knew that their only chance to compete was to sign Manny Ramirez. McCourt understood that their lineup scared no one…that his young hitters gained knowledge and confidence last year by having Manny in the middle of their lineup…conversely our owners knew that this lineup hit .230 with runners in scoring position in 2008, thats with Alex Rodriguez, Giambi, and Abreu in the line up. They opted to sign Mark Texiera rather than give the talented Juan Miranda the opportunity to win 1st base…for a whole lot less money…and add much needed youth to this long in the tooth line up ….The Red Sox passed on paying Texiera a kings ransome because a) They knew first hand that he is not the caliber of player as Ramirez or his counterpart Albert Pujols (who earns much less)…see Angels vs. Red Sox in last years playoffs b) They have a slick fielding, power hitting first basemen named Lars Anderson in Pawtucket who will be coming to Fenway soon..Heck, Texiera is not as clutch as Youklis, Lowell, Drew, or Bey…yet, the Yankees sign him for 10 years and $ 180 million…Yup, by seasons end, Texiera will have good but empty numbers. The Yanks had every opportunity during the off season to strengthen their lineup by signing Manny…I guarantee he would have made the other hitters around him more productive, including A-Rod and just as importantly put some fire back in the Yankees. With Manny in the lineup, Rodriguez would not have to be rushed back into action before he is ready. Rodriguez is rushing back from serious injury waaaay to soon and will not be the offensive force that he could have been if he would take the requisite time to get the right surgery, heal and rehab. This is the time for the Yanks to be playing Austin Jackson in Centerfield…he has shown that he has speed and power…Twin combos missing from Gardeners and Cabrerra’s repertoire.

And lastly, I don’t for a minute believe Wang is somehow injured. I can’t imagine anyone is. “Weakness in his hips”?? Really? If that’s not the quintessential “bad back” I don’t know what is. Let’s call it something that cannot ever be dis-proved as a way to get him on the DL and open up a roster spot. LOL….

I don’t care for Girardi’s comments on Hughes’ start tho. “Just throw strikes and put us in position to win the game…” That’s what CC did and your offense didn’t hold up it’s end of the bargain?? Joe? Hello?

As for Girardi, I was one of the proponents of his hiring. I think everyone had a level of expectation that has not been met yet. And I’m not just talking about wins and losses. I think we were ALL expecting something of a different demeanor from Torre and we’re not seeing it. I CERTAINLY can arm-chair manage with the best of them and I don’t like what I see.

Ok. First, don’t expect Jeter to all of a sudden find fire and brimstone. He’s not that type of guy. He has been molded in the Joe Torre frame and learned what he knows now from him. For that he cannot be blamed. He’s the type that goes out and plays his hardest every game, I believe that and leads by example. He’s NEVER been the “HEY LOOK AT ME” type and he never will be so don’t waste bandwidth hoping that he does.
Second, our bull pen. You’re all kvetching over it. Let me remind you that our bullpen was NOT the problem last year. In fact, we had one of the better pens in the league if you’ll all remember. And many if not most of those same arms are there again. What would you EXPECT a team to do? Let’s see, we went thru a whole season with a good bullpen and have appeared to find a mix that works so LET’S DUMP THEM ALL AND GO IN ANOTHER DIRECTION!???? For crying out loud! If “finding a good bullpen” were that simple every freaking team would have one with a .69 era! Let’s remember WHY pitchers are in the bullpen. They were neither good enough to START and WIN at the ML level consistently or they weren’t DOMINANT enough to nail down saves consistently. Girardi was “given” one of the most talent-laden teams in the history of the league lead by at least 4 or 5 future HOF’ers in Jeter, CC, ARod, Tex and Mo. Going in to this season there wasn’t ONE person here who thought PITCHING was going to be a problem, certainly not starting pitching.
April’s almost over. We’re about to turn a new month. ARod should be back. Wang should be back. I’m a pi$$ed as the next guy at our lackluster performance given that it comes while the Red Suchs are on a hot streak. But as far as I’m concerned, you can have all the hot streaks you want in April. September is still a LONG ways off.

I can’t believe there are still some Girardi lovers out there. Yes you can put most of the blame on him. These guys are simply not prepared to win ballgames and it is his job to make sure they are. Girardi looks like a lost puppy in the dugout and has looked that way all last season too. Look at what the Blue Jays have done since Gaston took over last year and with virtually no talent.

So after 7 scoreless innings, Verlander’s ERA went DOWN to 6.75… YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! CC put in a decent outing, great command of his pitches tonight (70 of 99 for strikes). This team is absolutely ridiculous. The Yankees won 3 in a row heading into the Boston series (6-2 the 8 games leading up to the Boston series) and now they look PITIFUL. No fire no nothing. These guys are ridiculous. Jeter needs to start riding people, Posada needs to start barking at people. These guys need to get their heads right and they need to start playing some baseball. 20 runners LOB?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! That is absolutely ridiculous, and something needs to happen NOW.

If I have said it once I have said it a 1000 times, the #1 problem with this squad is the GM Brian Crashman who has not got a clue on how to assemble a baseball team. Get rid of him and his minor league cronies and then the rebuilding will begin.

Has this team “wanted it” enough the last few years? Now, I will take a lot of flack for this but I do put some of the blame on the captain. Its not that I don’t think he gives enough personally, but do I think he needs to start showing some of these newcomers rings and explaining what it takes to be not only a Yankee, but a WS champion Yankee. I am not asking him to be rah-rah. But sometimes Jeter disappears in his own canned comments. In fact, I think there is far too much “we feel good about ourselves in this locker room” or “it’s still early” b.s. coming from the Yankees. No ungency+no fire= inconsistent, subpar play. The hated Red Sox aren’t waiting around for anyone. Nobody is scared of this team anymore. Lax leadership at the top. In short, not enough people in the organization are ********** enough! So we keep getting this crap shoveled at us. Like I said earlier, I will always be a Yankee fan. Couldn’t change if I wanted to. And this is a big crap sandwich and we are all being forced to eat it…AND I DON”T LIKE IT ONE ******* BIT!!!!!

Winning attitude is what all teams need to play in October. This team has not played with that attitude since the day Joe took over as manager. Its obvious nobody respects him as a manager nor do they view him as a real Yankee. He has really turned this team in to the Cubs as far as attitude goes. Next the fans will be chanting “Lets go Cubs”.

Lack of clutch hitting is killing the Yanks. Some of it is due to Girardi’s lack of imagination. His non aggressive management style is no bunt, no steal, no moving the runners, no small ball=no wins. He still thinks he’s a player watching from the bench. This ‘stat man’ has to go–put him back up in the broadcast booth to keep score and talk mercilessly about everything but the game we’re watching with the other blowhard Yankee tv broadcasters.

As much as I’m peeved by the slow starts, Texeira kept going on all winter about starting quickly and that he was preparing differently…he then was mashing the ball in Spring Training…and yet when it gets to April, he’s useless.

The way Cano is hitting perhaps more Yankees should do more during the offseason to get in shape. I believe that accounts for players getting off to a slow start is being out of shape. That is one reason ARod is better then most is due to his condition when he begins the year. Too much money and too little work for some players.

At the start of the season we didn’t have room for Giambi and Abreu, now yeah the’d be good bench players to have but at the start we had Nady, Swisher, Matsui, Cabrera, Gardner with no viable trade options. There’s only so much space on the roster. You must appreciate that Pena is around for his ability to play the whole infield…could you imagine having to put Giambi at first, Tex 2nd and Cano at SS if Jeter went down? Or Abreu in the IF?

The Yankees are below .500. Cashman gave away a solid player in Bobby Abreu who gave them a .300 BA,
100 RBIs and 287 TB. He also released Jason Giambi,
who gave them power, 100 RBIs, and a slg pct .541.
He gutted the team so that recent injuries have the team looking pathetic without depth. The Yanks are playing Gartner, M. Cabrera, Molina, Pena. .250 hitters. who lack power. What is going on? You give up bonafide players for this? Cashman should have his bags packed. This is unacceptable.

Valentine is a idiot who has a history of acting out. Willie would be a better candidate then him. How would anyone know whether Buck would return unless he is asked. After he built the Yankees they win the WS. Buck takes arizonia from scratch to the brink and they win the WS. Texas is the only team to not get turned around but nobody has been able to fix their problems.

Buck Showalter built the Yankee team that went to the playoffs in 95 before he was dumped for Torre. It seems to me he would be the best candidate to rebuild the team and get respect in the Manager’s position. Change of a pitching coach is also in order as this bullpen is horrible.

CC didn’t walk anyone, yet gave up 4 runs on 6 hits. Polanco and Ordonez got the hits when it mattered. The Yanks never really looked like getting back into that one, probably why Detroit brought in Rodney who looked poor. Even without the Ordonez homer, you figure Zumaya pitches a scoreless ninth and that would be that. Other than Cano, you struggle to think of where the runs are going to come from

Where are these high priced bats? They’re not getting the job done and haven’t all year except for Cano. The Yankees of old you could expect a rally in the late innings to win the game, but not with this bunch. Once they get down a few runs you might as well write off the game. There’s no coming back! Something drastically missing here. Nothing’s working. They can’t even beat the lowly Tigers! It’s going to be a long year. Jeter is not coming through in the clutch either. They’re making Verlander look like Cy Young material after a 0-2 start. Man, this is hard to take. We must be sadists as Yankee fans to keep watching this stuff and waiting for something to happen. Nothing from the Steinbrenners, nothing from Crashman, nothing from Girardi. Old George would have been nailing their hide to the wall by now. How long is management going to let this go on until they do something? Are they waiting for the Savior, ARod, to come riding in on his white charger? Somehow, I don’t think ARod is going to save this team this year. He didn’t save them last year so why should we expect he’s going to do it this year. We’re falling farther and farther behind.

really? what about the 1990 team? Not that I was old enough to remember it but didn’t someone lead the team in batting average with .285 or something and the Yanks wound up finishing last in the division?

This team is embarassing. In all aspects. I will root for them, I won’t give up. But this team stinks really bad right now, especially pitching. Personally, I think it starts with management. It has become painfully obvious that the Girardi regime will never amount to much here in NY. It is also a very bitter pill to swallow that we will have to endure this crap all season long. It does not make any sense that players come here and fall apart. They are exceptional everywhere else but here. I think the whole thing about NY pressure is a media and fan made myth. Honestly, I kind of hope they fall all the way apart and into semi-obscurity (as much as the Yankees can). It seems that is when they are at their best. Other than that I can’t think of any reason for the gross under-performance. It sickens me.

really? what about the 1990 team? Not that I was old enough to remember it but didn’t someone lead the team in batting average with .285 or something and the Yanks wound up finishing last in the division

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